OT: A belated RIP for the "Scooter", Mr. Phil Rizzuto

[PaulC]

A few nights back, heaven called up a Hall of Fame shortstop. Our loss, their gain. Beyond his accomplishments on the field,.. the man was a legend for providing us many years of laughter... Thanks for all the great memories Phil and bless you for your many good natured reminders that there is much beauty in the simpler things in life .... here is just a lil' sprinklin' of that written in honor of the "Scooter' these past few days:

" He rarely took himself seriously. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, a star in the Bronx, he made his last move to New Jersey, as far west as he ever wanted to travel.

His jabber about leaving early to beat the traffic, the birthday and anniversary announcements he'd make in the middle of an inning, the cannoli conversations, the movies he saw, the stories he started on-air and never finished, that was pure Phil. He had a lot of Peter Pan in him - and a little bit of unintended poetry.

Notable Rizzuto quips and quotes:

* 'Well, hi everybody, and welcome to New York Yankee baseball. I'm Bill White.'

* 'And that ball is out of here. No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it's not. What happened?'

* 'A high fly, and while it's in the air, happy birthday to Daphne Lapizana. She turns 18 today.'

* Rizzuto (as camera fixes on woman in stands): 'What a nice-looking young lady. She reminds me of that old song, 'A Pretty Girl Is Like a Memory.'

Bill White: 'Scooter, I think that's 'Melody.'

Rizzuto: 'How do you know her name is Melody?'

* 'Well, that kind of puts the damper on even a Yankee win.' (After hearing Pope Paul VI had died in 1978)

* Rizzuto: 'Reggie's home run has gone clear out of the ballpark.'

Bill White: 'Actually, Scooter, the ball landed in the seats.'

Rizzuto: 'It doesn't matter. They can't see it anyway at home.'

* 'If Don Mattingly isn't the American League MVP, nothing's kosher in China.'

* 'Oh, deep to left center, nobody's gonna get that one. ... Holy Cow, somebody got it.'

* Rizzuto (after foul ball is hit into dugout): 'Boy, I hope that's not (Ron) Guidry who got in the way.'

Frank Messer: 'Scooter, uh, Guidry is on the mound.'

Rizzuto: 'You know, Frank, you're right.'

* 'Okay, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here, two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth...' 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light'

* 'I gotta tell you what I did. You won't believe it, Bill White, but it's something I've wanted to do my whole life and finally today I got nerve enough to do it. I had a facial... No wonder women go. It took two and a half hours. Oh, they massage your face with oil, and then cream, rub your eyeballs...'

Phil got better laughs by accident than most people get with well-rehearsed one-liners. There was the night in Seattle, the Yankees' first trip there to play the Pilots, and Phil decided to tell the audience about this new American League city. Not much of an audience, he decided, because it was near the end of a long game and that made it almost 4 a.m. back in New York. "We're staying at a nice hotel," he said, "and all the rooms are round. My wife, Cora, isn't with me on this trip, but if she was, there'd be no cornering Cora tonight."

He did his best work when his on-air partners were Fran Healy, Tom Seaver, Bobby Murcer and Bill White, especially White. But even a low-key guy like Healy was at his best as long as he understood he was Abbott to Rizzuto's Costello. One night, when Rizzuto left the booth during a game in Chicago, this was how Healy greeted his return: "Here's Scooter, back from the men's room."

"Healy, you huckleberry, you're not supposed to tell people that. Tell them I went to see Bill Veeck (the White Sox president)". "Besides, Healy, I've been drinking coffee all day. You know what happens when you drink coffee all day?"

"What's that, Scooter?"

"You go see Bill Veeck."

[jazzykeb]

yeah, Phil was the best. Mike Greenberg on ESPN radio put it well yesterday. He grew up in the area, in a Yankee household with Rizouto's broadcasts on all the time. He left New York to go to school in Chicago and got exposed to another great broadcaster, Harry Carey.

He said that when Harry Carey died, it was like losing a friend. Yesterday, he said that when he heard that Phil had died, it was like losing a member of the family. But not a sibling or parent, but an uncle. That kinda crazy uncle that always made you laugh.

[mightyradgumbo]

Yeah, they were definitely a pair that beat a full house. RIP, Scooter. I would like to hear the game that is going on in the heavens right now with Harry and Phil announcing it.

[festivalgirl]

There was no one like Phil Rizzuto! Contrary to popular belief, the Yankees have sucked for most of my life [this is my 44th season on earth - 27 of them were losing seasons - 15 of them by 15 or more games].

Phil Rizzuto made those seasons bearable. You didn't really mind missing a couple of plays on the field while he was telling some unrelated story or wishing someone a Happy. Bill White & Frank Moesser were brilliant in catching you up before the commercial break!

There was nothing sadder than seeing Yogi Berra sitting at he game on Tuesday. He was gracious enough to come into the booth and tell stories for an inning.

Great things come in small packages!!

[rosetree]

The musical side of Phil Rizzuto...the making of "Paradise...."
RIP Phil, you were a big part of my youth watching the Yankees struggle through the 60's and early 70's and enjoying the late 70's and early 80's!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=pearlman/070816&sportCat=mlb

[PaulC]

RIP Phil, you were a big part of my youth watching the Yankees struggle through the 60's and early 70's and enjoying the late 70's and early 80's!

Gotta keep the Scooter up top for now...

Mr. Tree,.. a Yankee fan during the Horace Clark, Jake Gibbs days???... where your roots start spreadin' from???....

================================================== ===
Rizzuto touched the life of Jerry Coleman, his former double-play and broadcast partner, for more than 60 years. "We had nothing but fun together," Coleman said, from his San Diego home. "It was a pleasure to be with him."

Rizzuto played 13 seasons in the majors, but by the '90s, his persona was largely defined through the prism of his broadcast work -- and this has obscured just how good of a player Rizzuto was, Coleman believes. "I used to tease him," Coleman said with a chuckle. "DiMaggio and (Mickey) Mantle got all of the credit, but we were carrying the club, and nobody talked about us."

Then Coleman got serious: "(Rizzuto) never missed a damn ball. He didn't have a great arm, but he was always on the top of the game, in what was happening. He was the MVP, for heaven's sake, among the DiMaggios and Mantles and Williams. When you get to that level, you're not just lucking your way through.

"He was the captain. He was in charge. He knew what to look for. … He and Pee Wee Reese, they dominated the sport at that position, and look who was in the World Series every year -- the Yankees and the Dodgers. Their teams."
================================================== ==============

Rizzuto and Coleman were broadcasters together for years, and Coleman found it "wonderful" to work alongside the former captain, enormous fun. There was a day in Cleveland when Coleman went down to the Indians' clubhouse and was told that Sam McDowell -- an erratic, hard-throwing pitcher -- was going to start that day. Rizzuto and Coleman were amazed, as the game progressed, by McDowell's suddenly excellent command. In the fourth inning, a message was relayed to them from the home office at WPIX -- the Cleveland pitcher was Jack Kralick, and not Sam McDowell.

"It must be a Guinness world record, not having the right starting pitcher for four innings," Coleman said, chuckling again. "He was something else."

[rosetree]

Gotta keep the Scooter up top for now...

Mr. Tree,.. a Yankee fan during the Horace Clark, Jake Gibbs days???... where your roots start spreadin' from???....
"
Yup....Bobby Murcer, Peterson/Kekitch swap, Joe Pepitone, Ralph Houk, the list goes on and on....
grew up in Stamford CT...45 minutes door to door with the Stadium...Still a fan, but nothing like growing up there...my brother, OTOH, still lives there and lives and breathes Yankees.

[PaulC]

Yup....Bobby Murcer, Peterson/Kekitch swap, Joe Pepitone, Ralph Houk, the list goes on and on....
grew up in Stamford CT...45 minutes door to door with the Stadium...Still a fan, but nothing like growing up there...my brother, OTOH, still lives there and lives and breathes Yankees.

loved every minute of those losin' seasons,.... well,.. except for all that losin'... great characters back then... the Peterson/Kekitch stuff was most excellent.............. man Bobby Murcer,.. Chicken Stanley,.. Ron Blomberg,.. the very first dh (was at that game,.. Fenway Park, one of many classic Yanks/Sox games i witnessed live) who seemed like a giant back then but was only 6' 1" and 190 lbs..... a small second basemen nowadays..... and Mr. First Class all the way Mr. Roy White,.. he looked the same losin' or winnin' except for that cool hand luke smile when they won it all..............

and who betta' than the Scooter to talk about all those guys... back in the strictly radio days would hang out laughin' my fool ass off at the man..... could never understand people who didn't like em'...... still can't.........

[rosetree]

loved every minute of those losin' seasons,.... well,.. except for all that losin'... great characters back then... the Peterson/Kekitch stuff was most excellent.............. man Bobby Murcer,.. Chicken Stanley,.. Ron Blomberg,.. the very first dh (was at that game,.. Fenway Park, one of many classic Yanks/Sox games i witnessed live) who seemed like a giant back then but was only 6' 1" and 190 lbs..... a small second basemen nowadays..... and Mr. First Class all the way Mr. Roy White,.. he looked the same losin' or winnin' except for that cool hand luke smile when they won it all..............

Before free-agency.....before the Boss(not Bruce)....I loved the old stadium....Gulden's mustard on hot dogs or knishes... Roy White really was great....I liked going to Old Timers games, I guess that there was a connection to the championship teams in the Fifties that we didn't have in the 60's. I really want to take my kids to the stadium before they tear it down and move to some updated fancy digs...

[mightyradgumbo]

Before free-agency.....before the Boss(not Bruce)....I loved the old stadium....Gulden's mustard on hot dogs or knishes... Roy White really was great....I liked going to Old Timers games, I guess that there was a connection to the championship teams in the Fifties that we didn't have in the 60's. I really want to take my kids to the stadium before they tear it down and move to some updated fancy digs...

Yep, RT, three venues that are must-see venues for Baseball: Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium. Classics that you can just feel the history in when you walk in them.

[rosetree]

Yep, RT, three venues that are must-see venues for Baseball: Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium. Classics that you can just feel the history in when you walk in them.

Been to two out of three...never been to Wrigley....went to "enemy turf" when I was in Bahston...it was/is a great venue, you could reach out and almost touch the players...it was like a neighborhood park, everyone was milling about on a nice hot summer night...I can see why Boston loves its Sox

[ScoopJohnD]

You didn't really mind missing a couple of plays on the field while he was telling some unrelated story or wishing someone a Happy.


A couple of plays?!?! You could miss whole innings and it wouldn't matter. It's hard to describe if you never heard him, but when Scooter was announcing, you would go to school or to work the next day or when I had a partial season ticket plan during the glorious 'Stump Merrill era"to a game and the question wouldn't be "Did you see or listen to the game?" it would be "Didja hear what Rizzuto said last night?"

You could never imagine having so much fun watching or listening to a ball game. I have a book called "O Holy Cow! The selected verse of Phil Rizzuto".
Every week in the Village Voice, the two guys who edited this book would take what Rizzuto said verbatim and put in the form of a poem, complete with what was going on in the game when he said it.........a few examples.

June 16th 1992, New York at Boston. Roger Clemens pitching to Mel Hall, 6th inning 2 outs, bases empty Red Sox lead 2-1

Asylum

Got some chocolate chip cookies here
Murcer.
So don't ask me any questions
For a batter or two.
All right?

August 19th 1992 Oakland at New York, 6th inning, one out, bases empty, Yankees lead 4-1

The Indelible Smell

What kind is it?
Ohhhhhh!
Pepperoni!
Holy cow!
What happened?
Base hit!
A little disconcerting,
smelling that pizza,
And trying
To do a ball game.

Milwaukee at New York, 9th inning, two outs. (game winning home run)

Poem for Jesse

HEYYYYYYYYYYY!
THAT'S IT!
HOLY COW!
HE DID IT!
HOLY COW!
LOOK AT JESSE BARFIELD!
I WANNA TELL YOU!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH!
YOU GOT IT MURCER!
My heart.
My heart won't take it anymore.
I'm tellin ya.
HOLY COW!
I MEAN
THAT IS AN UNBELIEVABLE FINISH!
Are we on the air?
We're on the air?
We're on the?
Hooooooooooooooah.
WOW!
THIS YANKEE CLUB IS SOMETHING!
I TELL YA!
ATTA BOY, JESSE!

I'm reading these and I can hear his voice and I'm smiling. He was as much a piece of New York as anybody who ever lived, sports figures, politicians anyone. R.I.P Scooter, and thanks for giving all of us some joy.

[ScoopJohnD]

Before free-agency.....before the Boss(not Bruce)....I loved the old stadium....Gulden's mustard on hot dogs or knishes... Roy White really was great....I liked going to Old Timers games, I guess that there was a connection to the championship teams in the Fifties that we didn't have in the 60's. I really want to take my kids to the stadium before they tear it down and move to some updated fancy digs...

Only one, maybe two years left. I think one. All Star Game at the Stadium next year. Boy would I love to see that.

[rosetree]

Only one, maybe two years left. I think one. All Star Game at the Stadium next year. Boy would I love to see that.

I know....it makes me sad...."the House That Ruth Built" torn down for "the House That George Bought"....It seems that when I have been up north during BB season, the Yanks were away.....gotta git me some tix next year.....

[Stella Blue]

Wow, what a wonderful thread, and one I wasn't expecting to find here. I, too, grew up with all those losing teams -- on Long Island, where all my Mets friends really let me have it, until the Yanks got better. Roy White was my favorite player, what a gentleman, than Mattingly, now Jeter.
Anyhow, I wrote this editorial about "The Scooter'' for my newspaper. It was published Wednesday.


'Scooter' Rizzuto was one of a kind
With his signature "holy cow!'' and "you huckleberry!" and the tangential, personal stories he would often recite on air, Phil "The Scooter'' Rizzuto will be remembered by one generation as the most unique baseball announcer in history.
But that memory would belie something an earlier generation readily remembers - Rizzuto was a great player in his own right, a one-time Most Valuable Player and a Hall of Fame shortstop.
Rizzuto, 89, died Tuesday after declining health kept him out of the public's eye of late.
He lived a full life. In his heyday as a player, The Scooter helped the Yankees capture seven World Series and he appeared in five All-Star games along the way. At 5-foot-6 inches tall and with a skinny frame, Rizzuto was a contrast to the Yankee legends of his day, such as Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. But those great players understood Rizzuto's importance in the pivotal shortstop position - and how he could get things going for the team offensively with a bunt or a timely hit.
Rarely do people get second acts in life, but Rizzuto wasn't done with baseball upon retirement. Shortly after the Yankees released him in 1956, he launched his career as a broadcaster and made a name for himself with catch phrases and an endearing exuberance. Without apology, The Scooter was an unabashed Yankee rooter. Of course, he had his critics, those who felt his partisan antics were somehow wrong or over the top. But Rizzuto was full of baseball insights when he stayed on topic. And, when he didn't, well, that could be just as entertaining. Even during tight games, The Scooter would sometimes start talking about a movie he had seen the day before or the lasagna his wife Cora had cooked that week.
Early on, he was partnered with veteran broadcasters Mel Allen and Red Barber and slowly developed an on-air personality. During most of the 1970s and into the 1980s, he was teamed with announcers Bill White and Frank Messer, consummate straight men who knew when to let Rizzuto be Rizzuto. As he closed in on retirement and would leave games early, his announcing colleagues would tease that they could see Rizzuto beating the game traffic home by getting over the George Washington Bridge before the final out was made.
Fans could envision him going over that bridge, going home to his wife and family in New Jersey. They felt like they knew him. In ways, they did. The unpretentious Scooter wouldn't have had it any other way.

[ScoopJohnD]

I know....it makes me sad...."the House That Ruth Built" torn down for "the House That George Bought"....It seems that when I have been up north during BB season, the Yanks were away.....gotta git me some tix next year.....

Threadhead Yankee game group outing?

I gonna miss the old Stadium, lots of good memories, even when they stunk. I remember being there when Mel Hall hit a home run to beat Boston in the bottom of the ninth and it was like winning the World Series even though we sucked. And being at the Subway Series. And I'm happy to say I was at Phil Rizzuto Day, when he almost got trampled by the 'holy' cow the Daily News gave him and when Seaver upstaged him (not his fault) by winning his 300th game. Special place and a special man.

And a very nice article Stella.

[rosetree]

Threadhead Yankee game group outing?



That would be most excellent!! ....but I won't be back up North until next year...:(

[ScoopJohnD]

That would be most excellent!! ....but I won't be back up North until next year...:(

So, we'll do it next year!! I haven't been to game this year at all....grrrrr.

Gonna have to change that this last month and a half.

[rosetree]

So, we'll do it next year!! I haven't been to game this year at all....grrrrr.

Gonna have to change that this last month and a half.

That's the plan....Threadhead meet-up at the Stadium summer '08!!!:cool:

[ScoopJohnD]

That's the plan....Threadhead meet-up at the Stadium summer '08!!!:cool:

WOO HOO!!! or I guess I should say HOLY COW!!

[festivalgirl]

That's the plan....Threadhead meet-up at the Stadium summer '08!!!:cool:

Steve has never been to The Stadium - we need to get him there before it's gone. I miss the Beer Guy!! [you have to go get your own out here in the West]

[ScoopJohnD]

Steve has never been to The Stadium - we need to get him there before it's gone. I miss the Beer Guy!! [you have to go get your own out here in the West]
WHAT!?!?!? It ain't a friggin ball game unless you can yell out "YO! BEER!!" 2 or 48 times during the game. When I had Sunday plan Yankee tix our row had our own personal vendor. Got to know him, if one of the group was having a barbeque he was invited, tipped him good. And he was always there for our row, he was a vet so he could pick where he wanted to pour, and every Sunday there he was, Tier Box 608. Always a fresh rack, if one of us was strapped he'd give a few on the house.

Somehow I actually remember alot of the games!

[Zydekitten]

Yeah, sadly it's a fairly new change in baseball game service out West here . . . to try and avoid as many in-stadium fights and outside DUIs.

I truly miss being able to yell for a beer and have it brought to you in your seat. The only way to get a beer in your seat in S.F. is to sit in "special" seats where you can order all your food/drink to be brought to you by waitpeople.

Sigh.

[ohio]

RIP Phil!

[PaulC]

Gotta keep Phil near the top for now... I think he might have enjoyed this one:

On the first day of school a first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a Red Sox fan. She asks her students to raise their hands if they, too, are Red Sox fans.

Wanting to impress their teacher, everyone in the class raises their hand except one little girl. The teacher looks at the girl with surprise,

"Dakota, why didn't you raise your hand?" "Because I'm not a Red Sox fan," she replied.

The teacher, still shocked, asked, "Well, if you are not a Red Sox fan, then who are you a fan of?"

"I am a Yankee fan, and proud of it," Dakota replied.

The teacher could not believe her ears. "Dakota, why pray tell are you a Yankee fan?"

"Because my mom is a Yankee fan, and my dad is Yankee fan, so I'm a Yankee fan too!"

"Well," said the teacher in a obviously annoyed tone, "that is no reason for you to be a Yankee fan. You don't have to be just like your parents all of the time. What if your mom were an idiot and your dad were a moron, what would you be then?"

"Then," Dakota smiled, "I'd be a Red Sox fan."..... :D

================================================== =====

The Scooter and Red........

In winning seven World Series rings Phil Rizzuto would feel the wrath of Red Sox [team stats] fandom, because loathing of the Yankees is nothing new, but Boston also would become very much indebted to him for a concept known as Celtics [team stats] Pride, the hallmark of a dynasty of our own.

Rizzuto joined the Navy in World War II, winding up at Norfolk Naval Station, where he crossed paths with Red Auerbach, who was a high school basketball coach when the war broke out.

After graduating from Physical Instructors School, Red received a special assignment.

“The Navy was having public relations problems over major league stars not being shipped out,” he recalled. “So it wanted to set up a big physical education program at the base to show that every sailor was involved with sports, not just a select few. Within a month I had 28 tournaments going in everything from chess to softball to six-man football to checkers.”

That’s how he met Rizzuto. Both were from Brooklyn.

“We got to be pretty good friends,” Red recalled. “We’d spend hours talking about sports, and usually that would lead into discussions about the Yankees and their manager, Joe McCarthy.

“Phil told me how McCarthy was vitally concerned with the image of the Yankees. He said Joe believed the way a team conducted itself off the field had a great deal to do with the way it performed on the field.

“Then he told me about little ways McCarthy would introduce kids to his way of doing things. He would teach them how to tip properly in restaurants, how to dress properly in public, how to act correctly in places like hotel lobbies.

“It made a great deal of sense to me. A guy like DiMaggio actually looked and acted like a champion. If you could get a whole team to look and act the way DiMaggio did, you’d have one hell of a ballclub on your hands. So I made up my mind that if I ever got a club of my own, it would look and act like champions, too.”

Nine months after the war ended the Basketball Association of America, forerunner of today’s NBA, was founded. One of its charter franchises would be the Boston Celtics, and one of its charter coaches would be Auerbach, then 29, hired to run the Washington Caps.

Four years later he came to the Celtics, whom he would guide to 16 championships, including eight in a row (1959-1966).

“As you go through life,” Red once mused, “you pick up bits and pieces of what eventually becomes your own philosophy. You learn from other people’s experiences. One man who made a tremendous impression on me was Joe McCarthy, even though I never met him.”

But in meeting The Scooter he had met McCarthy vicariously, and that’s how the seeds of Celtics [team stats] Pride were planted.

“He epitomized the Yankee spirit,” George Steinbrenner said upon hearing of Rizzuto’s death. “And he wore the pinstripes proudly.”

Indeed he did.

[festivalgirl]

Gotta keep Phil near the top for now... I think he might have enjoyed this one:

On the first day of school a first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a Red Sox fan. She asks her students to raise their hands if they, too, are Red Sox fans.

Wanting to impress their teacher, everyone in the class raises their hand except one little girl. The teacher looks at the girl with surprise,

"Dakota, why didn't you raise your hand?" "Because I'm not a Red Sox fan," she replied.

The teacher, still shocked, asked, "Well, if you are not a Red Sox fan, then who are you a fan of?"

"I am a Yankee fan, and proud of it," Dakota replied.

The teacher could not believe her ears. "Dakota, why pray tell are you a Yankee fan?"

"Because my mom is a Yankee fan, and my dad is Yankee fan, so I'm a Yankee fan too!"

"Well," said the teacher in a obviously annoyed tone, "that is no reason for you to be a Yankee fan. You don't have to be just like your parents all of the time. What if your mom were an idiot and your dad were a moron, what would you be then?"

"Then," Dakota smiled, "I'd be a Red Sox fan."..... :D



Ah yes, an oldie but a goodie. No offense to the Chowda ThreadHeads ;)

[tangledupinblue]

To the Scoots! Love him! GO SWANKS!!! Just at the game on Thursday! FUN!!!

[festivalgirl]

To the Scoots! Love him! GO SWANKS!!! Just at the game on Thursday! FUN!!!

Cool. We'll be in Anaheim tomorrow [Monday]. Get to see Phil Hughes pitch.